The Practices of Knowledge Managers: an Activity System Based View Alexandre Perrin ([email protected]) Strategy Department Audencia Nantes School of.

The Practices of Knowledge Managers: an Activity System Based View

Alexandre Perrin ([email protected])Strategy Department

Audencia Nantes School of Management

France

Statements

• KM is a managerial practice (Bain, 2006)

1996 28% of usage

2006 69% of usage

…but companies are dissatisfied with the results

• Appointments of people in charge of knowledge management issues:

Chief Learning Officer, Chief Knowledge Officer, Knowledge Manager, Community Coordinator…

They initiate, drive and coordinate knowledge management programs (Earl and Scott 1999)

Paradox: few researches were conducted on these practitioners…none with a “practice-lens”

Literature Review

- Chief Learning Officer(Awazu et Desouza, 2004)

- Community Coordinator

(Wenger et al., 2002)

Knowledge socialization through

communities of practice

(Wenger et al. 2002 ; Dameron et Josserand, 2006 ; Soenen, 2006 ;

Vaast, 2007 ; Castro, 2007)

Knowledge built and traded in social spaces

(Lave et Wenger, 1991 ; Brown et Duguid, 1991 ; Wenger, 1999 ; Gherardi et Nicolini,

2000 ; Bechky, 2003 ; Kellogg, 2006)

Social Approach of KM

- Chief Information/Knowledge

Officer (Earl et Scott, 1999)

- Chief Protection Officer (Awazu et Desouza, 2004)

Knowledge codification through patents, expert systems or databases

(Hatchuel et Weil, 1992 ; Cowan et Foray, 2000 ; Hansen et al., 1999; Alavi et Leidner, 2001; Prax, 2004)

Individual and collective objects that can be placed

on an external support

(Walsh et Ugson, 1991 ; Grant, 1991 ; Szulanski, 1996 ; Davenport et Prusak,

2000 ; Argote et al., 2003)

Technical Approach of KM

Knowledge Managers as…

KM ToolsKnowledge as…

Research Questions

• A practice-lens:

RQ 1. What are the daily actions of knowledge managers?

RQ 2. What kind of conflicts can emerge from these practices inside the organization ?

RQ3. How these practices evolve over time ?

• Objective: study the practices of knowledge managers through the image of the situated activity Level of analysis

Issue

Organisation Managers

What ?

How ?

Policy Plan

PracticeProcess

Whittington (1996, p.732)

Subject Object

Artefacts

Division of work

Rules

Community

RESULTS

Analyzing Knowledge Managers practices: the Activity Based View

Adapted from Engeström (1996)

Methodology

• Research setting

Multinational corporation with KM function(s)

Three managerial levels: corporate/functions/business units

• Qualitative methodology

18 months of in situ observation (tasks)

30 interviews conducted (discourses)

850 pages of internal documents analyzed (artefacts)

• Four embedded case studies (managers)

Data triangulation obtained context

Content analysis with NVivo 2.0

Personal past experience has eased data analysis

Results

How to ensure common practices

in KM

Modify the content offered or select IT

tools ?

How to measure the value of KM ?

Subject Object

Artefacts

Division of work

RulesCommunity

RESULTS

Animate or control tools (codification &

socialization) ?

Outcomes

1. An evolving agenda with four domains of activity:

Knowledge portfolio (content)

Tools for codification (backbone)

Governance (rules)

Mindset (culture) (see the content analysis)

2. Knowledge Managers practices are influenced by:

Their ability to understand the knowledge that need to be managed (eg. Rewriting best practices)

The organization chart (eg. IT dept. vs Sales dept.)

The degree of understanding by stakeholders

The software/IT consultants

3. Practices evolve according to stakeholders needs

100 %100 %100 %100% Total

38 %4706 words

17 %2759 words

18 %1844 words

12 %2321 words

Mindset

8 %991 words

32 %5194 words

13 %1329 words

14 %2709 words

Governance

22 %2724 words

2 %324 words

13 %1332 words

68 %13158 words

IT

20 %2477 words

49 %7952 words

56 %5737 words

6 %1161 words

Portfolio

Case KTPCase BOOSTER

Case FIRSTCase CKO

Results – Content analysis

(back)

Conclusion

• The situated activity model helps to understand

the different influences or conflicts in exercising the function of knowledge management

the underlying causes of birth and death of the function

the competencies needed to hire a knowledge manager (IT/Rhetoric/Writing)

• Limit of the study

Quantitative study to be made on the four domains of activity

Conduct a survey inside the French knowledge manager community (CoP-1)

What can we add…

KM Programs vs KM Practices

Level of analysis

Problems

Organisation Managers

What ?

How ?

Policy Plan

PracticeProcess